Unish
Unish Copyright 2000 by Language Research Institute, Sejong University, Korea. *http://www.unish.org/ Webmaster (hsp(a)sejong.ac.kr) ---- Details of Grammar 1. Sentences 1.1 Word Order in a Sentence A sentence consists of a subject (S), a verb (V), and an object (O) in that order. This word order is kept regardless of a declarative sentence (DS) or an interrogative sentence (IS). DS: Tim wached beisbol game. Tim wached a baseball game IS: ?Tim wached beisbol game? As a result of this rule, a wh-word (namely, who, when, where, what, or how) appears in situ, instead of moving to the front of an interrogative sentence in which the wh-word appears. Sarah mited wu? ?Who did Sarah meet? John mited Peter wer? ?Where did Jonh meet Peter? The difference between a declarative sentence and an interrogative sentence is that the former ends with a period or a falling intonation, but the latter ends with a question mark or a rising intonation. In an imperative sentence the subject you is omitted, and a verb and an object appear in that order. Opn windo. Open the window. In a propositive sentence, the words that induce suggestion appear first, and then a verb and an object appear in that order. Let mes wach muvi. Let's watch a movie. 1.2 Nonoccurrence of Subject-verb Agreement Irrespective of number (i.e., plural or singular) or person (i.e., first-person, second-person, or third-person) of a subject, the form of the verb corresponding to the subject does not vary. Me laik seb. "I like apples." De laik seb. "You like apples." Kevin laik seb. "Kevin like apples." Les laik seb. "They like apples." 1.3 Forming Passive Sentences A passive sentence is formed from an active sentence by inserting the verb es in front of the verb of the active sentence, and changing the order of a subject and an object. Me lov du. "I love you" Des es lov. "You are loved." Les baied buk. "They bought a book" Buk esed bai. "A book was bought." In order to specify the agent in a passive sentence, the preposition de is used Larry gived buk tu me. "Larry gave a book to me." Buk esed giv tu me de Larry. "A book was given to me by Larry." As shown in the above sentence, when a direct object and an indirect object appear simultaneously in an active sentence, only the direct object can be used as the subject in a passive sentence 2. Nouns 2.1 Nonuse of Articles In Unish, articles (that is, a definite article or an indefinite article) are not used at all. Instead it is recognized tacitly from the context whether an article is omitted. Albert hav dog. Dog barked last nait. Albert has a dog. The dog barked last night. 2.1 Plural Forms of Nouns The plural form of all nouns (namely, pronouns, common nouns, and proper nouns) is created by attaching s to their singular form. akter : akters `actor' kakto : kaktos `cactus' Therefore, the irregular plural form of a noun does not exist in Unish. 3. Pronouns 3.1 Pronouns In Unish, the system of pronouns is as follows: Singular/Plural First Person me/mes Second Person de/des Third Person le/les As illustrated in the table, there is no gender distinction in pronouns, and the plural form of a pronoun is created by attaching s to its singular form. Le visited muze. "He/She visited a museum." Les visited muze. "They visited a museum." 3.2 Reflexive Pronouns Reflexive pronouns are all self regardless of their number and person. Me lov self. "I love myself." Les lov self. "They love themselves." 3.3 Nouns of Case In Unish, the form of nouns does not vary according to their case. Instead, the genitive case of a noun is expressed by the structure "preposition+noun" or "noun+aphostrophe+s." Me lov de. "I love you." De lov me. "You love me." Buk ov me "my book" Me's buk "my book" Kar ov pa ov de "your father's car" De's pa's kar "your father's car" Me returned buk ov le tu le. "I returned his/her book to him/her." Me returned le's buk tu le. "I returned his/her book to him/her." 4. Verbs 4.1 Tense of Verbs There are three kinds of tense in Unish: past, present, and future. (1) The past form of a verb is created by attaching-ed to its basic form. (2) The present form of a verb is the same as its basic form. (3) The future form of a verb is created by attaching-il to its basic form. Les vered Susan yedi. They saw Susan yesterday. Les visit bumo ov self evri wik. They visit their own parents every week. Les mitil Susan nedi. They will meet Susan tomorrow. Thus, in Unish there is no irregular verb.